Gravel-washing apparatus



.fAu 31,1926. v 1,598,542

L. E. SMOOT RAVEL WASHING APPARATUS Filed March 26, 1926 2 Sheets-She et 1 Jinan al ow atto'z was Aug. 31 1926.

E. SMQOT GRAVEL WASHING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 26, 1926 Patented Aug. 31, 1926 UNETED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEWIS E. SMOOT, OI WASHINGION, DISTRICT CGLUD'IBIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE SIMOOT SAND & G-R-AVEL CORPORATION, OF l/VASEING-TQN, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, A COR- PORATION OF VIRGINIA.

GRAVEL-VIASHING AFPARATUS.

Application filed March 26, 1926.

This invention relates to washing and scrubbing apparatus of the type designed for use in cleaning gravel, crushed stone, coal, shale, and the like, under conditions where such materials are found intermixed with soil, mud, clay, marl, and similar deleterious substances, and especially under conditions Where the percentage of deleterious matter is relativly high.

Broadly stated, the apparatus forming the subject matter of this invention con sists in a hollow cylinder mounted for rotation about an inclined axis and provided interiorly with a series of plows or shoes designed to agitate a continuous stream of the material being handled, as it passes through the cylinder under the combined influence of gravity and the rotation of the apparatus. I/Vhile apparatus of this general type has been heretofore known and used with varying degree of success, the present invention contemplates important improvements in apparatus of this nature which will adapt it for practical and efficient service on floating dredge machinery, in which service, due to essential requirements there existing with respect to center of gravity, distribution of weight, amount of overhead space available for installation, and general equilibrium of the apparatus as a whole, washers and scrubbers of the usual designare almost totally impractical.

Some of the more important features of novelty in the present apparatus are an entire rearrangement and design of the driving mechanism and the location thereof at the head or charging end of the cylinder in contrast to the usual discharge or tail and drive; a novel arrangement of plows or shoes within the cylinder to insure a thorough and complete scrubbing and cleansing of the material; provision for charging the cylinder through a hollow drive shaft at the head end of the apparatus; and means for removing the entire cylinder for repair or replacement without the necessity of dis turbing any of the driving mechanism.

These and other important features of the invention will become apparent from a read ing of the following specification, taken in connection with th accompanying drawings, wherein I have illustrated one improved form of my apparatus, it being understood,

Serial No. 97,744.

however, that such description and illustration are for the purposes of explanation and enample only, and not as defining the limits of my invention which are to be determined from the scope of the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus, parts being shown in section.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view partly in section of the head end drive for the cylinder.

Figure 4 is adiagrammatic development of the arrangement of plows Within the cylinder.

Figure 5 is a detail perspective View of one of the plows.

Referring more particularly to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals designate like parts throughout, the numeral 1 indicates generally the washing or scrubbing cylinder. This cylinder is hollow and imperforate throughout its length and may be made of any suitable size and proportions, depending upon the amount of material to be handled in a given unit of time. The cylinder 1 is mounted for rotation about an inclined axis, the degree of inclination being dependent in part upon the length of the cylinder and the speed of its rotation, and these factors may be varied within any desired limits, according to the conditions obtaining at the place of installation.

The manner in which the cylinder is mounted and driven constitutes an im portant feature of this invention, and com prises a main bearing 2 at the head end of the cylinder and a multiple roller support, generally indicated by the numeral 3, at the lower end thereof. The main bearing 2 surrounds and supports a hollow drive shaft 4:, the construction of which is more clearly shown in Figure 3. g The shaft 4: comprises a hollow cylindrical central portion 5 of reduced diameter, which is flared outwardly from one end to form an enlarged bell 6, terminating in an integral ring flange 7, designed to cooperate'with a similar flange 8 shrunk, riveted, or otherwise secured to the extreme upper end of the cylinder 1. The flanges 7 and 8 are suitably apertured to remetal, bronze, or the like. llleshing ceive securing elements 9, which elements are preferably screw-threaded bolts, so that when desired the cylinder 1 may be readily detached from the drive shaft and removed as a unit without disturbing or dismantling any of the drive mechanism.

The opposite end of the hollow shaft 4; is flared out abruptly to provide a second attaching flange 10, the outer face of this flange being cut away to define an annular shoulder 11, and an annular recess 12, the latter designed to receive an attaching flange 13 of a large ring gear l lwhich is secured to. the drive shaft by means of suitable bolts 15. The main or central portion 5 of the shaft l is machined exteriorly to provide a relatively broad bearing surface, having integral thrust rings 16 designed to take the thrust of the entire cylinder incident to its rotation about an inclined axis. The hearing surface and thrust rings of the shaft l are enclosed within the split bearing 2, comprising complement'al sections 2 and 2", secured together by bolts 2. The bearing 2 is, of course, provided with appropriate grooves to receive the thrust rings 16 of the shaft and, if'desired, may be provided with a renewable bearing surface of Babbitt ith the ring gear 14 is a smaller drive gear 17, keyed to a countershaft 18, which may be driven from any convenient source of power, it being notedthat, due to the inclination of the axis of the cylinder, the gears i l and 17 are theangle type. By this a rangement the cylinder 1 may conveniently be installed transversely of a dredge so that the upper or head end and the entire driving mechanism associated therewith will be located at or near the center line of the dredge, thus insuring stability and equilibrium of the apparatus as a. whole.

The lower end of the cylinder 1 is rotatablyv supported upon spaced bearing roller 19 and 20, the cylinder for this purpose being provided. with a wear or tread ring 21, shrunk or otherwise fixedly secured to the same. The rollers 19 and 20, and the bearing 2, are secured to the timbers of the frame work or superstructure of the dredge in any convenient manner, to give the cylinderthe desired inclination.

As shown in l igure 3, the hollow drive shaft 4: isot. a diameter suilicientto permit the insertion of a. suitable charging chute 22 thereinto, whereby the material to be cleaned may be charged directly into the interior of the cylinder, it being preferable to suspend or support the chute out of contact with the inner wall of the drive shaft in some convenient manner in order to avoid the excessive wear which would occur between these parts if the chute were allowed to rest directly upon the inner surface of the shaft. By this construction it is apparent that the drive shaft 4 transmits the entire torque from the gear ll directly to the cylinder 1, at the same time providing a convenientand practical means for charging material directly into the cylinder, while the bearing 2, through the rings 16, takes up the entire thrust of the apparatus. lt is to be noted particularly that the hollow drive shaft, by the arrangement just de scribed, is not subject to wear or deterioration interiorly from contact with the mate rial being handled by reason of the fact that said material is delivered by the chute directly into the cylinder 1. This construction insures a maximum operating life for the drive mechanism and thrust bearing, since they are, by their location, not only protected from injurious contact with the material being cleaned, but also from the grit containing wash-water which, in the usual tail-end drive apparatus, is continuously splashed over these parts, due to the fact that the discharge end' of the cylinder is obstructed by cross-struts or spiders which support the usual solid drive shaft used in that type of apparatus.

To insure a thorough cleansing of the material being thus introduced into the cylinder, the latter is provided with a series of plows or shoes 23, such as shown in Figure These plows comprise upstanding body portions 2%, provided with integral attaching lugs 25, said lugs and. the lower edge of the body portion, being preferably rounded to conform to the curvature of the inner wall of the cylinder to which they are secured by suitable bolts 26. The shoes 23 are arranged in one or more spirals within the cylinder and are spaced longitudinally and transversely from each other so to define broken or interrupted baffles as shown in Figures 1 and l. Furthermore, the shoes are given a pronounced pitch or inclination such that when the cylinder is rotated they tend to throw the material. intermittently towards the head end of the cylinder, and are furthermore spaced longitudinally from each other a distance such that, although the material. is repeatedly interrupted and thrown towards the head end of. the cylinder by engagement with the shoes, the interrupted nature of the spirals and the spacing of the shoes therein insures a positive and continuous flow of the material through the cylinder under the influence of gravity. This arrangement of shoes is clearly shown in Figure 4.

In order to insure a proper amount of material being retained within the cylinder at all times to effect a proper scouring. or scrubbing action, particularly when the ma terial is being. fed to the cylinder in small quantities, as when the dredge'buckets are running light, an annular ring R is provided at the lower or discharge end of the Ali cylinder interiorly thereot, this ring servin to restrict somewhat the discharge end (it the apparatus so that the material will bani; up within the cylinder to a depth determined by the depth of the ring R. lfiy this arrai'igei'nent a substantial bed of material is n'iaintained within the cylinder and this l'l'lallclltl-l is in a continuous state of agition, due to the action of the shot urthormore, it has been found that the cleaning and scrubbing of the material is further enhanced by gradually increasing the depth 01? the shoes from the head end toward the discharge end of the cylinder, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig.

The discharge end of the cylinder 1 preferably provided with a suitable rinsing or flushing screen 27, which, as shown in Figure 1, may be a perforated cylinder of the same diameter as the cylinder 1. The screen 27 is conveniently supported from the cylinder 1 by means of ring flanges 28 and 29 secured to the cylinder and screen respectively, the latter serving simultaneously as an anchor ring for a series of cantilever beams 30, extending longitudinally of the screen, and fixedly secured thereto. A hopper 31 is provided beneath the screen 27 for the purpose of receiving the material pass ing through the perforations thereof.

The screen 27 is provided with :1 ilush or spray pipe 1 extending substantially axial y thereii 10 from the open discharge end thereof, said pipe being supported in any con- "venient manner from the superstructure of the dredge, and is shown as lying substantially parallel with the cylinders 1 and 27 upon the timbers supporting the bearings of the scrubbing cylinder. The pipe l" is supplied with water under pressure from any sui able source and is designed to lush or rinse the clay, mud, soil, and other deleterious matter from the gravel as it passes longitudinally through the apparatus.

in the operation of my improved apparatus, the cylinder 1 is rotated from the countershatt 18 through the angle gears 17 and let, and drive shaft 4-. The material to be washed is supplied to the cylinder 1 by means of the chute 22, said material being charged. directly 'thereinto, or from a pri n ary screen and separator apparatus indi cated at 32. The material is supplied to the cylii'ider along with suitable quantities of water, and during its passa e through the cylinder is given a vigorous scouring and scrubbing action, due to the internal triction of the mass set up by the Sl'lOQr or plows secured to the inner walls of the cylinder. The repeated impact of the material upon said shoes serves to break up the lumps of mud, clay, and the like, and free the stone and gravel therefrom. The stone or gravel then passes from the cylinder 1 into the perforated rinsing screen, where, under the action of the spray of water from. tl P, the deleterious matter is we -cd lhi, the perforations of the screen an. into the hopper 81, while the clean gravel is discharged. from the open end of the screen into a barge anchoreu alongside of the dredge.

It will thus be seen that l have provided a gravel-washing apparatus wh by 1'9? of the fact that the driving mechanism is located at the upper end thereof, may be readily installed upon float dredge without turbing the tqllllibl thereof; tha by removin the drive mechanit rom the tail end of tee apparatus, the possibility injury thereto by collision with piers, piling, barges, etc, is precluded; an also that by so locating the d mechani it is protected from contact with particles A being handled, and pa cuot' the material larly. the grit-containing wash-Wat 1 i rich has heretofore caused such rapid deterioration of these elements.

while I have shown and described my improved apparatus as being used in connection with floating dredge machinery, it oi course aoparent that the same may be .used to equal advantage in other installa- Having thus desc ibed my invention, What I claim as new is 1. An apparatus of the character described comprising a drum rotatable about an inclined axis, means to feed material into said drum at its upper end, the inclination being sufficient to cause said material to flow through the drum under the influence of gravity and discharge therefrom at its lower extremity and a plurality of plows mount-ed upon the inner. wall of the drum and proportioned to momentarilyretard the passage of successive portions of the material without destroying the general gravita- 'ional flow of the material through the drum.

2. An apparatus of the character described comprising a drum rotatable about an inclined axis, means to feed material into said drum at its upper end, the inclination of the drum being sufficient to cause said material to flow through the drum under the influence of gravity and to discharge therefrom at its lower extremity, and a plurality of plows mounted upon the inner wall of the drum, said plows being pitched reversely with respect to the direction of rotation of the drum and flow of material therethrough, and proportioned to successively interrupt the passage of the material and to throw it back toward the upper end of the drum without destroying the general gravitational flow of the material through the drum.

3. An apparatus of the character described comprising a drum rotatable about an inclined axis, means to feed material. into said drum at its upper end, the inclination of the drum being sufficient to cause said tions where such apparatus is desired material to flow through the drum under the influence of gravity and to discharge therefrom at its lower extremity, and a plurality of plows mounted upon the inner Wall of the drum in circumferentially spaced relation, said plows being pitched reversely with respect to the direction of rotation of the drum and the flow of material therethrough proportioned to interrupt the direction of: flow of successive increments of the mate rial, and to momentarily reverse the flow thereof, Without destroying the general gravitational passage of the material through the drum.

l. An apparatus of the character de cribe-il comprising a drum rotatable about an inclined axis the inclination of the drum being suflicient to cause material fed into the upper end of said drum to flow through the drum under the influence of gr vity,

means to rotate the drum and means Within the cylinder to periodically reverse the direction of flow of the material i'vithout destroying the general gravitational passage of the material through the drum.

5. An apparatus of the character described comprising a drum rotatable about an inclined axis, the inclination of the drum being sui'licient to cause material fed into the upper end thereof to flow through the drum under the influence of gravity, means to rotate the drum, and means Within the drum to periodically retard and momentarily reverse the direction of flow of successive increments of the material without destroying the general gravitational passage of the material through the drum.

In testimony whereof I hereunto my signature.

LEWIS E. SMOOT. 

